This is the latest update of Kumari. It's got alot of bug fixes, more polish, all menus completed, player profiles (save game), high scores, options all work, one new sound track and 2 new levels (the second is a kind of boss level...good luck ), and tweaks to the original two levels.

FPS is shown, along with what percentage of time the renderer and CPU are using per frame. This should be useful for diagnosing performance problems. On my AMD 2600 it's pretty damn obvious by those numbers that Java is more then capable for video games - CPU usage is typically 5-15% of the actual time it takes to render a frame.

The engine itself should be smoother and due to some large changes, even at low FPS on older computers the game should be playable. This is of course a theory, until someone with a slow computer tries it and let's me know.

NOTE: This is on a different server, any old version of Kumari you had will still be in your webstart as a seperate instance. ChrisM You should update to this link on your blog, it's a new (more reliable) provider.

I appreciate any feedback, comments and especially bug reports.

Thanks for testing!

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Updated - December 3rd, 2005

New Version 0.3.5 (alpha) - WebStart version only (Windows installer version not updated).

- Summary (since v0.3) -

General: - Linux and Mac should be runnable via WebStart (Needs testers) - Fixed WebStart version to use users home directory

If you are running Linux or Mac - let me know how you make out. The only thing I *think* may be an issue is sound.

Java 1.5 seems to cause music stuttering during load times, it doesn't seem to share the CPU as well as 1.4.2 - during the game, if a lot of sound is playing FMOD seems to get payback and takes some CPU from Java. The sound quality is turned on max (44Khz stero 3D sound), I'll be adding an option to turn it down later or sooner if it ever becomes a problem with Java 1.4.2. This may only be a side effect of my crappy video card, I am curious to know if others see this problem in the WebStart version with Java 1.5.

I am looking for testers and feedback - Any and all help welcome and appreciated!

I have changed the name (and in my indecisive nature, I may again) from Pacifica to Kumari Kandum (might shorten to just Kumari). The principle is still the same actually, Kumari Kandum is really another name for Pacifica - which is a supposed lost continent or islands where humans originated.

Anyway - It's got a fresh coat of polish, some bug fixes and a Level 2

The default is currently set at 1024x768 @72 Mhz. If you run into trouble because of those settings (still doesn't do proper testing if can't find a suitable matching mode), try deleting the config.ser located in the kumari install directory. This will set it back to the base default of 800x600 @60Mhz.

There is also a new twist to the game which should further seperate it from it's Puzz Loop origins. You will see glowing spiral things (power gems- blue thing in screen shot 1) that pop-up from time to time. If you hit the gem with a same colored ball, you collect it. 20 gems you get a free man. However, if you hit it with the wrong color it will cause the ball to explode - thus these things also block you from making shots at times as well.

Currently the installer is for windows only... Sorry Mac and Linux folks.

Level 1

Level 2

If it crashes on you, there is an error.log file written in the install directory. Please post it here if that happens.

There is still alot of work to do: More game play tweaking, more for menus, high scores, save game, 18 more levels (at least), more bugs to fix, more polish, more models to develop (or rework), more textures and music....lots more -- That said, the game play is pretty close and the programming work is almost completed.

* Difficulty is just about right - not too hard, but definately not easy!* Spruce up the menu screen, bit boring to look at, probable some balls rolling around would help?* love the water effect, might add similar other stuff like sunlight or shadows that distort colors* fix the cursor - looks shite imo* I did not notice any lagging or slowdows - it just *worked** consider adding antialiasing option and anisotropic filtering

I have a ton of other effects/powerups - but I judging from your "coding about done" comment, I think you've reached the level of features wanted

* Difficulty is just about right - not too hard, but definately not easy!* Spruce up the menu screen, bit boring to look at, probable some balls rolling around would help?* love the water effect, might add similar other stuff like sunlight or shadows that distort colors* fix the cursor - looks shite imo* I did not notice any lagging or slowdows - it just *worked** consider adding antialiasing option and anisotropic filtering

* I have tweaked the difficuly to where I like it (seems you thought it was good too) - I hope it's not to tuff for a casual game. It definetly takes some skill.* Main menu screen is not quite done - I thought about adding balls as well - I guess I should. I might do more with the menu buttons as well* I will be adding a waterfall effect (my wife demands it ), possibly a storm where lightning goes off and shows you the path but normally it's to dark to really see, maybe a fog effect that wil distort the colors, perhaps a slime? Still 18 levels to come up with stuff.* Cursor will definetly not remain - it's one of the "fill it with something and fix it later" assets * Antialiasing is on my to-do list. There is even working code for it, but it's just not on the Options menu (not finished).

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I have a ton of other effects/powerups - but I judging from your "coding about done" comment, I think you've reached the level of features wanted

I have to save something for Kumari 2 I am getting to the point where I have to cut it off and only add what overwhelming feedback says must be there. I am just one guy and there is still alot to do. Each new powerup comes with graphics, model, effects and programming (and new bugs) - I just don't have the time.

Matzon, about the UI lag - I just saw the same thing in the Options menu. I don't get any lag at all running in the IDE, but do in the installed version... and it's very noticeable I also noticed that the game doesn't seem to run quite as nice as it does in the IDE also.

I am off to check the versions of Java that each is using. Thanks for the heads up.

This is after deleting the config.ser, when it didn't workt he first time. I believe the only difference is it tries 1024x768 @72Mhz instead. Neither work.

You're using LWJGL right? I know that *can* work on Win98, because I can play Monstrumo just fine on this machine. If you want me to test out any other programs (small applications) to try to figure out what the problem is, I could do that. There's not a lot of information I can give you otherwise.

Good:It runs! Screen flicks a few times, but the game actually comes up. Yay.

Bad:It runs slowly . But this is probably mostly my computer's fault. Unfortunately because it was running at about 2 fps I didn't actually try in-game, but the title screen was very slow (and it was hard to click buttons).

Err was that directed towards me? The game was definately running slow. I tried it again and got in-game this time, and (at 1024x768 resolution) I could count out what seemed to be 5-7 fps. The game itself seemed to slow down as well (i.e. the intro-camera change and the ball movement took longer). This is a TNT2 graphics card however.

On my computer with a Geforce 4, I got perfectly smooth framerates (and the game moved much faster) at 1280x1024 resolution. Game looks absolutely great, and as always the music matches nicely. Only time it slows down is when I hover over buttons in the options menu (perceptable quarter-second stutter then). Difficulty level has been vastly improved; I can combo balls without waiting for them to enter the final track section now . I think you have the level about right. Very fun and addicting.

I only had time to play one game, though I really want to try to get to level 2. Keep up the good work.

Try the patch out, it should fix the menus - does on my PC anyways. I was getting the same lag (from installed version), but what's really odd is I never did get lag running from Eclipse and what appears to the be same version of Java

Try the patch out, it should fix the menus - does on my PC anyways. I was getting the same lag (from installed version), but what's really odd is I never did get lag running from Eclipse and what appears to the be same version of Java

Anyway, let me know if it's improved.

Lag has improved! I don't notice anything anymore!

However, there appear to be a few GUI bugs. For some odd reason, when I click left on the Resolution, it turns up mouse sensitivity, clicking left on Refresh Rate turns up resolution, clicking left on Mouse Sensitivity goes back to the main menu, and clicking Cancel reloads the game. I honestly don't know what the "Ok" button does; my computer just stutters for half a second and then the music restarts.

Heh.

Edit: Left on Sound FX is tied to turning up refresh rate, left on Music is tied to turning up Sound FX, and there appears to be no way to turn up the music volume. Also when I turned the music all the way down, and checked the music button back on, the game crashed.

Yes I am - and yes I need help - I have no Mac to test on at this time.

Ok, I worked a bit on repackaging the files from the Windows install.

I had the same displaymode issue as reported for Win 98 on OS X, but the new engine class in your zip fixed it for Mac too.

The remaining problem is much bigger . It gets to the loading screen and then exits. The error.log file says "FMOD not yet supported on this OS"... Which is to be expected, I don't have native libraries for the FMOD bindings.

Are FMOD bindings available for OS X? If not, perhaps you can make it continue without sound support?

nva225 - Mind giving it another try (yet another installer uploaded). If nothing else, it should produce the log file now - I forgot to turn it back on when I was debugging the video and menu lag issues.

On a side note, the installer is 1.7MB smaller now due to using different compression.

PS: If you do get it running on your old computer, try setting the resolution down to improve performance. The TNT is probably very fillrate limited.

Hmm, well, it ran alright. I tried lowering the resolution like you said and it seemed to make the game playable, but it was still perceptably slower than on my other computer (I'm referring to the game clock speed, not the rendering speed). You might also find it interesting to know that during the entire course of running the game, my cursor was constantly overlapped by the wavey-windows thinking icon; this included when I had the main menu cursor, and when I was just moving around in the game.

Also, after about a minute or two of play I suddenly noticed a section of balls slide in without pushing away the ones in front of it. The result can be seen at the link below:

As you can see, some marbles managed to overlap other ones, and there's twice as many squeezed in as there's supposed to be. I've never seen any errors on my other computer however (2ghz vs 850 mhz, might be important?). It seems to me like the processor is struggling to keep up, though I really wouldn't know why.

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